14 Mar Outraged Martinez Residents at Town Hall Say They’re Tired of Refinery Incidents

Contra Costa County Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston leads a town hall meeting in Martinez on Thursday about a fire at the Martinez Refining Company on Feb. 1. (Tony Hicks / Bay City News)

By Tony Hicks
Bay City News

Martinez residents made something very clear at a town hall meeting called by Contra Costa County Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston on Thursday night.

They’re tired of coming to meetings about mishaps at Martinez Refinery Company.

“I am sorry that we are here, yet again,” Martinez Mayor Brianne Zorn said at John Muir Elementary School’s mostly-packed multi-purpose room, kicking off the meeting.

The gathering came nearly six weeks after a large fire broke out Feb. 1 at the refinery, sending flames and enough black smoke into the air for the county to order nearby residents to shelter in place for more than four hours.

The fire, caused by a hydrocarbon leak during “turnaround” maintenance, burned for three days. Six workers were injured, though none seriously. A turnaround is a planned, periodic shutdown of a refinery, or part of it, for maintenance, upgrades, and repairs.

MRC, which is owned by PBF Energy, said 170 barrels — 7,140 gallons — of hydrocarbon materials were released during the fire, most of which they said were consumed by the flames.

Contra Costa Health, the county’s health department, has said chemicals and combustion byproducts from the fire included those that cause cancer, heart and lung disease, though most of the smoke was blown northeast, away from downtown and most residential areas.

The refinery has since been closed. Refinery manager Daniel Ingram said Thursday that areas not damaged by the fire could open in April. They hope to rebuild the destroyed area and reopen it by the fourth quarter of this year.

Scales-Preston was joined by representatives of CCH, the refinery, the county’s hazardous materials team, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, the county’s Community Warning System, Bay Area Air District, Martinez Public Works Department, and the Contra Costa Water District.

Though everyone seating on the stage discussed their agency’s responses to the fire, any damage caused, and their agency’s plans moving forward, most of the crowd’s questions — and anger — was directed at Ingram.

One audience member asked if PBF plans to “decommission the refinery for the health and safety of our residents?” The idea drew cheers and applause.

“Actually, just the opposite,” Ingram said. “PBF Energy did announce last week publicly our plans to rebuild the refinery and the fire-damaged areas, as well as move forward with our turnaround and our major projects. So we do intend to invest the $300 million investment that we spoke about … prior to the incident.”

Ingram said that investment is “excellent news for our employees (and), you know, their livelihood, every day coming to work and making a great living wage as well as the state of California.”

His comments were met outbursts, with someone yelling “What about their lives?” and another shouting “greed!”

Resident Jillian Elliott asked why it took hours for a level two warning to be increased to a level three — requiring a shelter in place — when “we were seeing fires on TV. We were taking texts from people. We were terrified.”

“We were panicked. I thought I was having a heart attack,” Elliott said. “I want to know what it will take for you to really tell the truth and, you know, treat us like we’re adults.”

Nicole Heath, the county’s director of hazardous materials program, said CCH, not the refinery, called the level three shelter-in-place when smoke moved closer to the ground.

Heath addressed other incidents: flaring and releases of coke dust — a black, sooty byproduct of petroleum that can penetrate lungs and cause serious health problems.

On Thanksgiving in 2022, MRC released 20 to 24 tons of spent catalyst, coating residents’ yards and vehicles. MRC didn’t explain the release to the public for two days.

Heath said the county will fully audit the refinery after an independent investigator is hired to look at what went wrong Feb. 1.

She said there will be stronger county oversight of MRC.

“I can assure you that at Contra Costa Health, we are taking an internal look at our policies to see if any adjustments need to be made,” Heath said. “We’re going to look at lessons learned from this incident to see what adjustments might need to be made to help us in making those level designations.”

Resident Heidi Taylor, who later said she’s been to “hundreds” of meetings about MRC, told Ingram, “A job that endangers your life is not a good job.”

“You can do both. You can protect your workers and you can protect this community,” Taylor said. “So what I want to know is when are you going to stop dividing us and focus on keeping that place safe?”

Ingram said, “Our number one goal each and every day is every worker goes home in the same condition he came in. That’s our number one priority. We preach it every day at every level of this organization.”

Ingram stopped talking when he got shouted down.

Resident Donna Vanni accused the refinery of a willingness to pay fines from the Bay Area Air District because they’re making “billions.” She said she can’t plant in her garden because of contamination and has suffered from poor health since PBF bought the refinery from Shell in 2020.

Ingram said the company has spent “hundreds of millions” on safety and environmental compliance and other regulatory requirements since buying the refinery.

Resident Ramsey Sharif prompted applause when asked a “really basic question for you guys.”

Sharif asked, “Who are the politicians we need to hold accountable for the next inevitable meltdown at this refinery? And where could I find that information as to how much money these companies, or rather, these politicians, have taken from PBF … I’d like to know what politicians to hold accountable.”

Scales-Preston quickly jumped in.

“I just want to answer your question for myself. I have not taken any money from PBF or Martinez refinery,” she said, to more applause.

Resident Justin Gomez said the community is “exhausted.” He asked how the community can find hope and what can “disincentivize” the refinery from making so many mistakes.

“We’ve been traumatized,” Gomez said. “This isn’t normal, but we’ve normalized it.”

Scales-Preston said the refinery has never been fully audited, which she thinks will happen.

“We have to develop trust because there’s no trust there,” Scales-Preston said. “And that’s (MRC’s) responsibility to make sure that they develop the trust.”

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